MIKE ZACCHIO has been with The Journal News and Lohud.com since August 2011, where he serves as the beat writer for volleyball, girls basketball, softball and the Rockland Boulders. Upon graduating from North Rockland High School in 2007, he earned his associate's degree in Communications/Media Arts from Rockland Community College in 2009. After RCC, he earned his bachelor's in Journalism from Purchase College in 2011. Let's talk about something important.

31 Comments

Holla!

Real good chat tonite! But I have a major complaint…..why wait till teams are confirmed for the CC to have this? You guys did a great job but should have had a few before this( ie; varsity insider,and lohud hockey who have them numerous times during the season) was a nice expierence …

It definitely would have been nice to have a few of these during the season, but it was good to get one in before the County Center. We will be doing a couple more next week, and we will definitely keep these in mind for next year! I think it’s a great way to interact with everyone. Thank you to all who participated!

I read your comments on the Rockland Girls most valuable player and needed to add my opinion. When I think of most valuable player, I think of what that player brought to their team throughout the entire season and how that particular team would have done if that player (MVP) did not play on that team. Scogs, Castaldo, Parahus are very good players, however, if you took them out of the mix, their teams would still have won games. However, if you look at what McLaughlin did for TZ, you can not compare. She handled the point, guarded the best player on the other team, led the team in points (18ppg), led the team in assists (8pg), lead the team in rebounds (10pg), led the team in blocks (5pg), lead the team in steals (4pg). Furthermore, I have personally spoken with the coaches of most of teams in Rockland and they agreed how valuable McLaughlin was to her team.

Joe Bball – you are stoned if you think McLaughlin averaged 18-10-8-4, and that’s taking nothing away from her, she is a great player on a mediocre team. If you take her away from that team they become bad, very true. South is a good team, take away Castaldo and they be come mediocre, albertus is a good team, take away Parahaus and they become mediocre…pearl river is a great team, take away Scogs and they become a good team. You need to look at the whole picture, all of these girls are great players arguably the best offensive and defensive player on their respective team but imho opinion Scogs is the MVP and I don’t think it’s close. She leads the best team, everything runs thru her, the offensive, the defense, everything. If she struggles they struggle which isn’t often. She’s the best player on the best team and makes everyone around her better

all 4 are up for the county player of the year..between scogs,mclaughlin and parahus lets see who becomes the league MVP..this is voted on only by the league coaches. this will give us a good indication of who should be player of the year

Laura Castaldo is without question the most important/valuable player among the individuals named(All great players). I have no connection to any of these teams but it was quite evident that Castaldo was the most pivotal player. CS would not have won half the games without her. Rock-Hoops is all about PR and can’t look at anything objectively. Why,in his words, was PR the the only team that would still be “good” if Scogs didn’t play? Answer: Still has daughter on team. Try and be objective when giving your PR slanted opinion.

All of these girls are tremendous leaders on their respective teams. Not to mention that each of these players are very nice girls. Each one of these teams would be lacking – to say the least – without them. They are all leaders! Scogs is an amazing athlete that plays for an amazing TEAM. She definitely deserves a spot on the All County Team. Most of the starters on Pearl River have stats that are very similar. These stats just do not compare to the INDIVIDUAL performance that Castaldo, Parahaus, and McLaughlin have. We are voting for a standout PLAYER, not a standout TEAM. If these three girls did not put up their numbers – day in and day out – their teams have little to no shot of winning games.

Just wanted to add another name to the MVP conversation. Amanda DeCourcy from PR. She seams to fly under the rader but PR doesn’t have the record that they have without Amanda. If PR lost either Missy or Amanda they go from a great team to a good team Both girls do the little stuff to win games an they both excel in pressure situation. I am sure all the girls mention deserve consideration for MVP. I just wanted to add another to the conversation. P.S. No I am not related to Amanda.

Disagree completely, Scogs is a good athlete, nice girl but please she is far from a great basketball player. She doesn’t do enough. Pearl River is a good team for this year but again far from a great team. You put them up against any PR team from the last 10 years and they would be spanked. They win because there is no one player, they play good team defense. I’ve seen PR play numerous games and Scogs was not the center of the team in any of them. With PR it’s a team effort if you take her out of the lineup they will still be fine. The MVP has to be the player that if you take out of the game the team drops drastically and when you need a play at the end of the game the girl you would rely on to win it for you. Perheaus, McCloughlin and Castaldo are more important to thier teams. Just my opinion.

@bballjunkie..please mama decourcey we all know that you love little Amanda but pleeeze ( in the new PC sixth man blog we don’t slam our female athletes). She is a solid athlete( very talented in soccer as well as hoops) but please don’t insult our intelligence – that would just as bad as the tappan zee fan base (-and mclauglin clan)stuffing the ballot box for McLauglin during the poll

@ number junkie..I would take all stats( except points ) w/ a grain of salt….a) these scorekeepers go by there own rules and what one school calls an assist the other doesn’t( no uniformity) usually the top notch programs(Ossining,Irvington,PR) won’t fudge these numbers but in my expierence have seen injured varsity players,parents,teachers who are looking to make a buck( yes some schools pay scorekeepers) do stats… B) the stats on max preps are only put on by the coaches that decide to…without a doubt over half the coaches don’t enter info on max preps

@ called glass…you are wrong! All county and POY picked by journal news and the writers going to the games….coaches vote on all-league and all section( but even that is usually voted on by the league rep as not all the coaches attend the meetings)

This is Mike McLaughlin. It has been an honor to be associated with the young ladies you are speaking about. I have seen these girls mature since they were in grade school and now to see each of them be leaders on and off the court is a testament to their families, coaches and teammates and most important, themselves. I am as biased as heck for all these girls because I love them and respect them, I have known them since they were babies, along with their families and also had the pleasure of coaching most of them in AAU for quite a few years. I have had the pleasure of seeing each one of them play this year and whoever is making this decision, the paper, the coaches or whomever else, God Bless! Each one of them is deserving, whether you judge by stats, defense, impact to team, leadership skills etc… The great thing about basketball is, it is a team sport, 5 players giving their best for each other. Anyone can step up on any given night, and I do not think we would be talking about these players if it were not for their teammates stepping up every night. The ironic thing about this whole dialogue is, if you asked each one of these young ladies whether they care about getting an MVP award is, the answer would be “no, what are you talking about?” Also, most of you have my email or cell which is 914-907-7705, if you ever want my opinion, just ask. Would encourage folks to have transparency when you are talking about kids. All the best to the teams that are still playing this week!

@Bert Plfruck. Sorry to tell u I am not mama DeCorucy as I stated in my blog I am not related to the Decourcy at all. U should get ur facts straight before u throw names out I just admire the way Amanda plays the game an feel she deserves to be in the conversation. As all the girs mention deserve to be in the conversations. Its a shame my blog for some reason led to u insulting 2 families for no reason at all. To the Mclaughlin family I am sorry my blog led to Bert Plfruck to bring ur name up. To the DeCourcy family if u read the blogs I also apoligize for any problems it caused. Mike an Phil I know u read every post before it gets posted. I don’t see how Bert Plfruck blog was something u would want to be posted. His blog was mean spirited an insulting an served no purpose at all.

I am Kristen uncle and you are right the whole family is so proud of Kristen. We love her so much she is great person, student, and athlete!! I also know all the other girls to and they are GREAT players and Great young lady’s off the court too. All their parents should be so proud of them and if I were a college coach I would want them all !!

I believe the schedules went from 22 to 18 games two years ago. I think it was changed due to budget reasons. Whoever can score 1,000 points while playing FOUR years of an 18 game schedule shows how talented some of these players are!